At the start of 2018, Getting On Board will launch a new programme to support charities to recruit the trustees they need to operate effectively.

There are an estimated 100,000 trustee vacancies in the UK and our recent research showed that 74% of charities are still struggling to recruit the trustees they need.

As well as encouraging people to become trustees, there is an urgent need to professionalise trustee recruitment. Many charities are still recruiting trustees solely through word-of-mouth. It is estimated that only 10% of trustee vacancies are ever advertised. This leads to a lack of diversity on charity boards in terms of people, skills and knowledge.

With the support of Comic Relief, The Pears Foundation and the Anjoli Stewart Fund we will now work with charities to test free and low-cost trustee recruitment methods.

We will subsequently produce free guidance for any charity on how to recruit trustees effectively and cheaply.